


A Hop, Skip, and a Jump

by Uniasus



Category: Rise of the Guardians (2012)
Genre: Ficlets, Gen, Inspired by Music, Meme
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-05-24
Updated: 2014-08-21
Packaged: 2018-01-26 03:09:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 6,007
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1672472
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Uniasus/pseuds/Uniasus
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The problem with having a crush on an actual star was that they ignored you. Unless you were a star. Which Sandy was not.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Sanderson Mansnoozie

**Author's Note:**

> I've done this meme of other fandoms, and in a lull period where I wanted to write but didn't know what story to work on and I wanted to re-listen to my music cuz I accidentally deleted my iTunes library and only just got 2/3rd back from my my iPod. I recalled this and just started writing...and was almost late for a class *I* was to teach. Oopies.
> 
> Meme is as follows: 1. Pick a character, pairing, or fandom you like. 2. Turn on your music player and put it on random/shuffle. 3. Write a drabble related to each song that plays. You only have the time frame of the song to finish the drabble; you start when the song starts, and stop when it's over. No lingering afterwards! 4. Do ten of these, then post them.
> 
> Each drabble is a different universe, for the most part, though you can expect to see similar themes to what I've explored in longer works. And links will ideally open in different windows if you wanna listen while reading.

###  [1) - Beneath Your Beautiful ft Emeli Sande by Labrinth](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bqIxCtEveG8)

The problem with having a crush on an actual star was that they ignored you. Unless you were a star. Which Sandy was not.

Comets were related to stars, true, but they were looked down upon. They were made of rock and ice and sand, not hydrogen and helium. Comets reflected lights, they never produced them. It didn't stop every comet Sandy knew of to fall in love with a star.

Sandy's was Sol. A bright G2 main sequence star who radiation he found soothing. And who while didn't return his feelings wasn't above having a conversation with him. So he put himself in orbit around her, content with feeling her radiation and their conversations. Sandy didn't care for the other thousand some comets who also had fallen in love with Sol, he ignored them mostly. But then the moon-

###  [2) - Break the Sword of Justice by Kaijura Yuki (Tsubasa Chronicle OST)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a_UXXSQbmp8)

When you're told your a Guardian of something, even something as intangible as childhood, it's a given you're going to fight something.

Fighting was not something Sandy was good at. He was a comet, a wishing star, whose task in life was to find a star to circle around and become a symbol of dreams to the people on the planet below them. Fighting wasn't in his job description, he didn't know how to do it. But -

### 3) [After Glow - Wilkinson](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I9QGpHScGug)

Once they were back in North's Workshop, Sandy found himself smothered with hugs from Tooth and North as well as more pats than usual from Bunny. He didn't quite get it until he saw the candle burning on his pictograph in the Globe Room. They had thought him dead, and now knowing that he wasn't his friends were enjoying the glow of his sand and the fact that it meant he was alive.

It wasn't their fault they had thought him dead, they didn't quite understand his make up and it was impossible to explain giving their language issues.

Knowing he was so missed warmed his heart and Sandy fully prepared himself -

###  [4) Air Balloon - Lily Allen](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vo9Fja5x04o)

"Sandy? Sandy? Are you awake?"

Something poked his belly and he opened his eyes to see Jack Frost standing above him. Absently, he noticed he was in a sand formed hot air balloon. He didn't remember making it, or falling asleep in the basket.

"Hey there, it's almost dawn. I thought you liked to keep a low profile with the kids but you're parked on a roof."

Well, that wouldn't do. Sandy pointed up and then at Jack, who nodded. "Sure, I'll fly you up."

Once they were above the clouds, Sandy settled in for another nap and Jack chuckled at him. "Up here, you can do anything you want without worry of being seeing and you want to sleep?"

###  [5) Smoke on the Water - Deep Purple](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7mCK05dgwgU)

There was fire in the sky and smoke on the water, sure signs of a village eating flame if he had ever seen on. Quickly, Sandy flew over. Discreetly, he woke up the kids he could and used his sand to light up a pathway in the smoke. But as always, he couldn't wake the dreaming children.

Being the Guardian of Dreams meant he physically could not disrupt them, even if it mean the child would die of smoke inhalation in their sleep. He hovered over the kid's bed, mentally urging on the dream to hurry up and finish. The room was filling up with smoke, there was screaming from the master bedroom on the first floor, but still the boy slept on. It had to be a really, really good dream.

He coughed, and Sandy hoped that the smoke had seeped into his dream, was going to wake him up-

###  [6) Killer Queen - Sum 41's cover](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ze3Wj3grsOY)

Sandy had only meet Tzarina Lunanoff once, and he was in no rush to do it again. With her pale blonde hair, almost orange skin, and yellow eyes she was striking even amongst stars. Not to mention the sharp cheekbones and long legs. If Sandy was into that.

No, what made him hesitant to face her again was her control over fire. All main sequence stars had the power to some degree, but the Tzarina had -

###  [7) Runaway - Mae](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P8QXj4pWurw)

When he heard rumors of the fearlings having escaped, Sandy fled. Hoped in his ship and flew as far away from Wrice, the city of Aurelius, and the prison planet of Trigray as fast as he could. It was cowardly, maybe. Defiantly. And useless. Nothing could escape fear.

The Royal Family had tried, Sandy ran into them years later in orbit around a planet. He had welcomed the company for a little while, but when Pitch Black again attacked Sandy again tried to flee. But his ship was damage

###  [8) Bust a Move - Glee Cast](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-MLIbhVuAYQ)

Sandy's favorite thing in the whole world was a disco ball. Because when ever it came out he knew the party was gonna be good.

"Is he always like this?" he heard Jack whisper to North. Sandy continued dancing in the center of the room on moving invisible platforms in the air.

"Yes, Sandy is best dancer."

As if to prove the point -

###  [9) Misunderstood - Better than Ezra](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GDr3omZuUvs)

There were day, okay, lots and lots of days, where Sandy would have liked it if his fellow Guardians understood light. If they could see radiation outside of the visual spectrum.

But they couldn't and so he was stuck with hand charades and over gestures. And even then he wasn't always understood. He was used to it, for the most part, and while there had been issues do to misscommunication none of them had been serious.

### 10) Airborne Assault - Hamaguichi Shiro (Final Fantasy Unlimited Soundtrack) (sorry, no Youtube link)

He wasn't sure what exactly knocked him out of the sky. Maybe Pitch and his fearlings, or the sudden appearance of the Moon Clipper as it's FTL jump drive put it a scant parsec from his own ship. All he knew was -


	2. E. Aster Bunnymund

### 1) Crazy for You - Adele

It was dark in the warren, even darker in his burrow where Aster was trying to sleep. The problem was, he didn't actually feel tired. But if he slept, he could get these thoughts out of his head. Thoughts of hair stiff with ice, of skin cool to the touch even in August, and of Jack's Frost tight-enough-to-be-a-sin leather pants.

He wasn't a fan of such thoughts, didn't welcome them, and so tried to do everything he could to get them out of his head. Pacing, opening the doors and meditating on the feel of air moving between them, chores -

### 2) Ruined in a Day - New Order

People had called him a control freak in the past. He didn't mind. Aster knew the consequences of getting multiple people involved in a project was more ways it could go wrong. If you want something done right, you gotta do it yourself.

Except when you can't, cuz you're pressed for time.

And the day is ruined. Eggs smashed, baskets empty, and children walking through him.

Logically, Bunny knew that even if he had tried to make Easter work that year by himself the result would have been the same. Or worse. Pitch might have offed him. But it didn't stop him from passing along the blame. To North. To Tooth. And when he finally showed up to Jack Frost. To the one person who had done the least. 

It was his control freak nature talking.

### 3) The World - Nightmare

He didn't really know what he was looking for, just that he would know what it was when he found it. A world where he would be safe, but more importantly the Light he guarded would be kept safe. The Light from the beginning of the universe, the left over ingredients from the first stars, the Light that was the last pure goodness of the worlds. 

Of which there weren't many left. 

Aster couldn't guard it on any old planet, it had to be right. Some place easily defensible, some place easy to over look. And to be on the safe side, uninhabited. Intelligent life could make things messy in so many ways. No, some place clear of life, for now.

###  4) Clear Blue vs Beautiful Things - Andain vs Elevation 

The first time Bunny had set eyes on Nicolas St. North he noticed his eyes. Big. Bright. They kinda popped out a bit. But they were also very, very blue. Bunny tried to name the color, tried to match it with something in nature. The Caribbean Sea. A starling's iridescent feathers. A sky after a storm. The ice in the center of a glacier. 

Nothing. Nothing at all.

And around the time Bunny started to analyze just _why_ he was obsessed with North's clear blue eyes, an emotion he was hesitant to touch, he came across one of the most beautiful things he had ever seen. 

No, not a thing, for the tree moved and revealed itself to not be a tree at all but a woman. Not trying to blend in, Bunny could see her honey eyes and black hair before she disappeared amongst blackberry bushes. Whether she had turned into a bush, used magic to resemble one or just hide from sight, or even teleported away Bunny didn't know. But he just knew she had an uncanny ability to blend in with nature and with that thought Bunny knew exactly who it was he had spied. 

The mysterious Mother Nature.

Thoughts of North, of the color of his eyes -

### 5) Beethoven's 5 Secrets - The Piano Guys

Once, in a rare desire to see the sky after he had landed on Earth, Bunny made his way to the surface to pop up in a forest at night. No point being seen. But the Light needed to be recharged, and there was no better way to do that than star light from multiple sources. Sol was too over powering during the day. To whittle away the hours, he brought up a reed flute and played traditional songs. Never mind the tears they brought to his eyes, or that it was his first willing trip down memory lane. It was just a night of music, stars, and the Light.

Or so he thought. Someone had been in the woods that night, because years later Bunny heard a human recording of songs reminiscent of those from his home world. Variations of Pookan themes, their dynamic styles, there were all there in pieces written by someone named Beethoven.

### 6) Under Attack - ABBA

Aster was under attack. First Sandy showed up in the Warren, making pictures of turkeys and Indian feather headdresses. And then North came and in his usual loud manner explained in more detail. "Thanksgiving party is Jack's idea, you will come, yes?"

"Maybe."

"Bunny."

"I said maybe. It's not a no."

And then came Tooth. Who knew more about Thanksgiving than North did, at least from Jack's point of view.

"Jack has...an issue with holidays."

"Then why'd he start this whole Thanksgiving deal?"

"He doesn't like them because in the past, holidays spirits ignored him. Thanksgiving doesn't have one, so we were thinking-"

### 7) Bright Sight - Access

"This is what we guard, the Light." 

Aster's father gestured to the small room behind him. "It's a pretty intense sight, and every Pooka sees it differently. It changes forms based on the mind seeing it. Today's lesson is first seeing it, one by one, and then a self reflective essay on why you think it took the form it did. Who wants to go first?"

Aster raised his paw and Evergreen nodded. "Go ahead son."

He hopped forward, opened the door, closed it after him and made his way down the short hallway. A quick turn and there it was, the Light. 

It was the brightest thing Aster had ever seen, more so than the sun, in the shape of a small egg not much taller than Aster's own nose was long. Hesitantly, Aster hopped forward. He had a strange desire to touch it, to hold it, and while his father hadn't said he could he also hadn't said he couldn't either. 

Gently, Aster scooped it up. As bright as it was, he expected the egg to be almost too hot to touch, instead it was a cold as stone.

### 8) Diary of Jane - Breaking Benjamin

Bunny wanted to be in Jack's life. He wasn't the only one. North, Tooth, and Sandy did too. But Jack wasn't letting anyone in aside from Baby Tooth and it was frustrating Bunny to no end. 

Bunny understood personal space and being independent, but this was ridiculous. Did Jack not like them?

"Do you not what to be friends?" he out right asked, during a rare visit Jack made to the Warren. Rare being the first time in the five years since Jack had become a Guardian.

"Wha? Of course I want to be friends! What makes you say other wise?"

### 9) Many Moons - Janelle Monae

"Stay here," Lily insisted and Aster answered by crouching down in the burrow. He could feel the fearlings milling around, getting closer and closer. Until they were hunted and killed, or trapped like the General's plan he had over heard his father talking about, the Pookas and other races would never be free from fear. 

There was so much of it. Fear of his parents dying in battle. Of the fearlings getting him and twisting his body to wear as a suit like so many other dead kits. Of the planet falling into darkness. Of the universe dying. 

He had read a story once where the main characters was listed as being carefree. He had no idea what that word meant, but he dreamed and prayed and hoped that one day he would understand. That he would understand what the dictionary had said.   
One day, that change would happen. And he wanted to be alive for it.

### 10) In the Air (Axwell Remix) - TV Rock ft Rudy

Flying was not something Aster liked doing. Okay, so it was his first time, but he didn't like it. And the flying debris the ship was avoiding didn't help matters either. Thank the stars the ship had autopilot because otherwise he would have been dead many times over due to hitting any of the wreckage around him.

He was also very glad that thanks to the autopilot, Aster could squeeze his eyes shut and not look at the floating bodies in space. He knew there was a battle going-


	3. Toothiana

### 1) Fly ft Rihanna by Nicki Minaj

There was one thing that made her different, one thing that made the other kids harass and ignore her. But not today. Today, her wings and feathers, her heritage was what elevated her above them all. Made her better them all them.

Today, it was her ability to fly that had her give the village a heads up to the raiders coming. That allowed them to plant traps -

### 2) Perfect Stranger ft Katy B by Magnetic Mar

Jack Frost was a stranger. She knew that, he knew that. But he was a stranger with perfect teeth. All even and in a row, bright white and sparkling. Tooth knew all this before they ever meet at North's Workshop.

She was a firm believer in perfection - that there was one perfect example of all things in all of time. So she knew there was a set of perfect teeth somewhere in the world, she would meet the person with them one day. Her heart told her so.

Jack Frost was the perfect person for those perfect teeth. Being immortal, Tooth would be able to look at them for all eternity. It would have been such a pity if they had been in a human mouth; human mouths and teeth changed and so were temporary. But Jack was perfect.

"You know, I knew you existed and that I'd meet you one day," she told Jack decades later as they sat on a window sill.

"Yeah?"

"Yup, even when you were a stranger, I knew you would be prefect for me." She leaned in to kiss him, running a tongue along the top of his teeth.

### 3) Chinese Dance - Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky

She didn't like the idea of finding a new home, but she knew it had to be done. Hers was gone and the longer Tooth went without one didn't do anyone good. No, -

### 4) The Bonny Swans - Loreena McKennitt

She couldn't remember when the spell had been cast on her. Not only had she been young, it had been so long ago. The world had changed, even as she didn't. Swan by day, lady by the light of the full moon. In fact, the spell was so old and she had spent so much time as a swan that on that rare occasion she had a human form she wasn't, well, human much.

Tooth looked at her reflection in the lake, absentmindedly running a hand down her feathered arms. Her legs were feathered, her stomach was feathered, her face was lined by feathers and in this form tiny swan wings were on her back, too small to lift her weight.

It had been a dream, long ago, to have the spell broken. For someone to look at her and fall in love, to kiss her and prevent her from ever being a swan again. But that hadn't happened and now she looked liked this. What lord would want a lady covered in feathers with grotesque protrusions from her back? Why couldn't the spell had died when the magician who cast it did, hundreds of years ago? Why must she live and live with this constant hopelessness?

She wanted the sun to come back, she didn't want to look at herself anymore.

### 5) Heart Shaped Box - Evanescence cover

Apparently Jack only had an issue with holiday spirits. Everyone else, he was cool with. Probably why he had confessed to Tooth once that she was his favorite. However, Tooth had never seen Jack interact with anyone not a Guardian. Unless you count that time Old Man Winter and Mother Nature kidnapped him from the Pole, and she wasn't sure she did.

But now, having not seen Jack for months due to his training with Old Man Winter, Tooth decided to go visit him. Even if he was at Winter's arctic -

### 6) Lullaby for a Rainy Night - Dave Koz

Most birds, Tooth knew, didn't like the rain. That was alright with her, it meant when the rain did come she could fly around and not worry about a crowded sky.

Rain reminded her of Before, before her family was killed and before she started taking on the appearance of the Sisters of Flight. Before, she would skip out the door every rainstorm to spin on the road and jump in puddles, not minding that she would have to be the one to get the mud out of her clothes later. Rain was peace and happiness and childhood.

She had two out of the three now, thanks to the Guardians, but childhood once lost could never be reclaimed. Even if you were stuck at the age of sixteen. It could however be remembered with fondness and so every time it rained Tooth indulged in those memories. Sometimes just by thinking, if she was busy, and other times spinning in the sky.

### 7) Wanted Dead or Alive - Bon Jovi

The easiest crime to be convicted of was being different. Because everyone was, in one way or another, and in most cases it wasn't easy to hide.

Tooth's difference was impossible to hide.

She had feathers, brightly colored ones, pushing their way out of her skin and gossamer wings that had unfurled from her back. Tooth wasn't just different in the way Lucy was with her lisp or Mr. Franks was with his addiction to the bottle.

Tooth wasn't human.

And if you weren't human you were an animal. Animals existed for two reasons, to help with labor or to be food. But she didn't know what the villagers had in mind for her - she couldn't pull a plow and she was fairly certain no one would be able to stomach eating something that so resembled a human.

While hiding in a bush, she had over heard someone referencing a two-head calf. A sign of the devil and so something that should be put down. Tooth wouldn't be surprised if that's what her village now thought of her as.

### 8) Get Over the Rain - T.M. Revolution

Her fairies all gave a solid squeak 'no'. It was too wet outside, the rain made their wings heavy and they couldn't fly. They refused to go outside and collect the teeth, even knowing how important they were. The weather should clear up around dawn, still in the time where children would be sleeping. They would go then.

"Ladies, it's just a little rain! If you're so adamant, I'll go and do it myself!" She flew towards the window and Tooth was surprised at how the six of them insisted that she say inside the palace.

"I'm going and that's final!" she said, diving around them.

Except, as it turned out, she had greatly underestimated the power of monsoons.

### 9) Images 2: Et la lune descend sur le temple qui fut by Debussy played by Phillippe Entremont

When Manny had first chosen her to be a Guardian of Childhood, Toothiana was shocked. For the longest time, no one had wanted her and to be told one of the most powerful spirits in the world had taken an interest in her was a great surprise.

"I'm not sure I understand, why did you choose me?"

In answer, she felt light concentrate on her wings.

Because she could fly? No, that couldn't be right. There were plenty of people who could fly. Her wings, something about her wings.

"Because of my heritage?" she guessed and she felt a warmth radiate through the moonlight to her body. Yes.

That didn't clear things up much. She had been hunted because of her heritage, it hadn't been seen as a positive trait, and here was the Man in the Moon telling her otherwise.

Well, who was she to tell him he was wrong? She had never talked to a Sister of Flight, maybe there was something about the race she was missing out on. Something important that could help her in this new role, this Guardian of Childhood task.

Tooth was also happy for a reason to stop hiding from hunters.

### 10) Anyone Else But You - The Moldy Peaches

There were things she saw in North that Tooth had tried to see in others. But she failed to see them anywhere else. No one else was as full of wonder, was just as deft in the kitchen as in a melee. No one else had those blue eyes and that self important nature.

It took her awhile to realize why she was trying to find such things in other people.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bah, I suck at Tooth. I blame the fact that I haven't actually read the books nor read any good fics that focus on her. Anyone have any suggestions?


	4. Nicholas St. North

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Why is it every time I spend a huge chunk of time linking to songs and hit preview, that AO3 is like, _oops, we lost you're chapter?_ I give up on trying to do all of them.

### 1) No Dinero - Edie Brickell and New Bohemians

"I have no more gold," Nicholas lamented, digging his hands into his pockets to pull out lint. "Now, how do I pay for the lovely dinner I wanted?"

His breakfast companion smiled. "We could just make it ourselves."

"Bah. I am bad cook." He waved his hands in the air and looked out the window. It was a nice day, lots of sun on this Saturday morning.

"We'll, there's rumors of a caravan leaving the city tomorrow."

"This does not fill my pockets for tonight."

"No."

"But, it will fill my pockets for many more nights in the future. Petr, tell the boys we leave in one hour. I know just the place to hide, one day's hard ride from here. We will beat caravan."

"And suffer your campfire cooking."

"At least is better than yours."

### 2)Senka no koi - Joe Hisaishi, Howl's Moving Castle OST

"What is that?" North asked, looking skywards. Of course, he knew exactly what it was. A flying castle made of gold. The better question might be, why does it exist? And how?

"That," Toothiana said, hovering a little higher than his shoulder, "is the castle of Sanderson Mansnoozie aka, The Sandman."

"He lives in a castle made of gold!"

She chuckled.

### 3)The Thunderer - John Philip Sousa 

"Let's see if this one works." North grabbed the snow globe from Bunny's work table. 

"Wait, North, I wasn't finished with the time-space calibrations-"

The glass smashed on a stone sentinel and a booming roar of thunder sounded in the Warren. 

North clapped his hands in delight. "Will they all make such wonderful noises?"

"Of course not!" Bunny snagged the next globe from -

### 4)St. Stephen - Grateful Dead

This had to be a mistake. Something to do with St. North being his last name or with the idea that one of his aliases according to the stories was St. Nicholas. He didn't care, North just wanted out.

He had no idea that when he got an invitation to a gathering, it was a gathering of Christian saints. 

North had nothing against saints, or Christianity on a whole. Christmas was indeed a Christian holiday, sorta. It was a Christian bastardization of a pagan holiday that was slowly being becoming a cultural day instead of a religious one. But saints were....well saints. There was no alcohol at this shindig -

### 5)Snow White Queen by Evanescence

The most challenging, and thus the most rewarding targets, were royal transports. 

"Hello, my queen," Nicholas said with a smile as he knocked out a guard. He turned to stare at her through the carriage's small window. "All your gold, they are mine now. And those nice crystals too."

"And me?"

"Do you want to belong to me? Be consort to Bandit King?"

He could tell she was thinking about it and laughed.

### 6)Get You - Alexey Vorobyov

"What do you want from life, my son?" Alexis St. North asked.

From his across the room, Nicholas frowned at the question and thought over an answer. What did he want? 

One, out of this village. It was tiny and he couldn't help but feel as if he was meant for bigger things than this town of three hundred could provide him. Two, was to be known. And not in the way that the neighbors remembered when he took his first steps. He wanted his name to be known across Russia, for people to shout out his name -

### 7)Heart of Sword by T.M. Revolution

"Take these," he father insisted, pressing a wrapped bundle in Nicholas's hands before he mounted his horse.

Even wrapped in burlap, he knew what they were. "Father, these are your swords."

"I do not need them here, all I fight with is the weather and our stubborn oxen. They are not battles worth of swords. Take them, they will keep you safe. The roads are dangerous, many bandits."

Nicholas kissed his father's cheeks and the unwrapped the bundle. Two swords with bronze hilts that curved to protect the hands. "I will keep them safe, just as they will keep me safe."

### 8)Starships by Nicki Minaj

"I need to fly," North muttered to himself, playing with his ice carving tools. Manny had charged him with giving wonder to children, and the best way he could think to do that was by having presents magically appear under Christmas trees. But even though he was a spirit with magic powers, he couldn't possibly do every house while on his feet, leaping from roof to roof or doorstep to doorstep. No, he needed some way to fly.

Jetpack? Fun, but hard to control. 

Spaceship would work, and Sandy and Bunny had experience of those, but he didn't -

### 9)Terrorists Win by Andy Van Duyne

It wasn't so much a feeling in his belly as an ache in his chest. When he had last seen Jack, the boy hadn't looked himself and then barricaded himself in a corner with his ice. North had wanted to talk to him, but Pitch had said no and North and the other Guardians had backed down at Sandy's insistence.

And now, it was three years later and North just knew something was happening to Jack. He wasn't sure if it was good or bad or just different, but it had him on edge. Three years Jack had spent on a shuttle with only Pitch for company; even if he hadn't absorbed the star eater that was a long time to spend with Pitch.

Logically, and Sandy supported it, he knew Pitch Black wasn't really Pitch Black now. Manny had changed that with a golden locket. That Pitch was trying to help Jack. But North -

### 10)Kairi - Shimomura Yoko, Kingdom Hearts 2 OST 

"Did you used to have a family?" Jack asked from his position in the rafters.

"Yes," North answered without looking up from the ice. "A sister and a brother-"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Gah, North was hard too. I know very, very little about his pre-Guardian days. Next up is Jack, and as I write as him a lot, he should be easier.


	5. Jack Frost

### 1)Looking for a Friend - Roland Gift

Jack perched on the roof of town hall. School had just let out and he was watching the older students walking home, some of them trailing younger siblings. Any other day, he would be down on the sidewalk, waving at the kids who could see him. But he wasn't here to play with kids today.

He took off, jumping from roof to roof. Burgess was more familiar to him than his staff so he didn't pay attention to where he was going and let his feet take him from one bungalow to another. Eventually he stopped and found himself staring across the street into Jamie's window.

Except of course, Jamie wasn't there. 

"Jack!"

He looked down to see Sophie waving at him. With-

### 2)Roldán - Amadeo Roldán

Spirits typically liked nighttime. While Jack liked the day because it meant he could interact with children, most of the minor seasonal spirits just wanted to be left alone and do their jobs that active humans got in the way of. Once the sun came down, they started waking up.

And of course, that meant the longest night of the year was essentially the longest party of the year.

### 3)End of the Century - No.9

He wasn't very good with letters, but he was with numbers. Jack kept track of passing time by looking at calenders when he had the chance. He played a mini game with himself, guessing at how long it had been between date sightings. Some surprised him, some didn't, but when he looked at one and realized he'd been wandering for -

### 4)Iris - The Goo Goo Dolls

Ever since he had first risen from the pond, Jack felt himself drawn to one child every generation or so. It started with the first girl, who Jack wanted to introduce himself too. Who cared if she didn't like him or not, he just wanted her to know who he was. That would be enough. 

But Olivia never heard him, and so he turned his attention to another child, and another, and another and another. Sure, Jack could have tried to get more than one person at a time to know him, but he wasn't sure anyone other than the children he followed would understand him. That he was a spirit. That he caused the snow days and frozen shut windows. Only certain kids accepted-

### 5)Gamelan - Cirque du Soleil

"How do you even do that?" Bunny asked and Jack craned his head upwards to look at him.

"Do what?"

"That!" Bunny waved a paw at Jack's position. Granted, he was dangling in mid air, with just one knee hooked over a tree root which itself was part of a mass of roots jutting off the side of a cliff. His staff was balanced in the crock between two different roots.

"Practice?" He swung himself up, using flips and hand springs to return to his staff and then flew up to the Pooka. "I do gymnastics when I'm bored, what do you do?"

"Sketch plants."

"Not polish your boomerrangs? Cuz those things are shiny." He slipped around Bunny and pulled one loose.

"Give that back! Gah, you monkey."

### 6)As One - L'arc~En~ciel

He knew it was coming, man, Old Man Winter's attack on the Pole made the announcement loud enough and complicated enough Jack would never forget it. Still, when it came Jack didn't feel prepared. 

It started with the Old Man's beard breaking off like icicles. And then his fingers and toes turned to ice. Then his arms, his calves, until yesterday when he turned to Jack and Marion -

### 7)Promised Land/Bless into the Sunshine- Move

Jack had read the Bible once and had heard parts of it every Sunday in Church. He knew all about the Promised Land of Moses, and how God promised his people a land of milk and honey, of peace, and then delivered it. 

And so Jack prayed to God, and the moon who gave him his name, everyday for forty days to guide him to, if not a promised land than some place better than this. He would have prayed for forty years, but they showed him a way out.

It wasn't what Jack had expected. There was no powerful Ark to fight battles for him, no prophet who could guide him. There wasn't even a map he could use to navigate the tunnels he was trapped in. Instead, God and the moon gave him access to something he hadn't had access to since he had been dragged below the Earth and his staff taken away - magic.

With it, he could sink away, close his eyes and be some place else. A pirate ship, a dragon's cave, a fairy grove, a different planet. He could stay there for hours, pretending to be someone else, pretending to live in a world where what he wanted happened. Of course, he was jostled out of his imagination. His captor loved to torment him (it's just me and you and all of your fears) and -

### 8)Museum Fight - Michael Kamen, X-Men OST 

"Seriously," Jack said, ducking a flying mace. "I can't believe you have a personal museum for weapons here in the Workshop, North."

"Is very impressive, no?"

"What I can't believe," Bunny grumbled, knocking a sword out of the air, "is that someone got through your wards and used magic to animate them all."

"Ah, that'd be my fault." Jack said.

### 9)Far From Over - Kamaya

Apparently, Jack couldn't just say the Oath and be a Guardian. No, the initiation was rather long. 

"Do we have to do this?" Jack asked, leaning over the two armrests of a chair.

"Yes," Katherine asked. "Every story has to be told and recorded, and I have to know everything about you, Jack Frost, for the records. I'll keep track of the changes your story makes to itself, you magical growth, your adventures-"

Jack groaned. "Can't I go play with the kids?"

"We've barely gotten started! I only know what happened the last few days. I need to know everything."

"Everything? From when I woke up in the pond?"

"From before you were even Chosen to be a spirit."

He turned to glare at her. There wasn't much he remembered from before he became Jack Frost, and what he did he wasn't planning on sharing with anyone. That was private and still-

### 10)The Finish Line - Snow Patrol

Jack closed his eyes and took a deep breath, feeling the grass on his cheek and insects in the summer night. While he knew it was far off, the sound of a radio filled him and he felt as if it was next to his ear, could feel the motion of speaker. 

He knew what he was really feeling was his own rapid heartbeat, still fast despite the slow breathes he was taking.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kudos from me for those who caught references to my other fics.


End file.
